Nearly a hundred independent 1776 declarations built conspiracist narratives toward revolution

Evidence

Historians have uncovered nearly one hundred resolutions urging independence issued throughout 1776 by states and counties and towns, artisan and militia associations, and the provincial congresses of nine colonies. The tone, language, and form are consistent. In each, a narrative of self-defense against enslavement is built from fragmentary evidence. Each lists “abuses and usurpations” adding up to a tyrannical plot. These declarations also shared an aim: to ensure that the war that had begun against the British in 1775 resulted not in more petitions for a redress of grievances over taxation or better representation in Parliament but rather in independence. To see the conspiracy was to see the necessity of revolution. — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 57

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth checking how these local declarations differed from the flagship Declaration, and how historians recovered them.
• XREF: connects to: American conspiracy thinking dates to the founding fathers themselves. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 52; The Declaration of Independence is a classic conspiracy narrative — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 53; The American Revolution conditioned citizens to equate resistance to conspiracy with national identity — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying: The New…, 59 (+2 more)

Broader Connections

• The Declaration of Independence is a classic conspiracy narrative #corroborates (0.90) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 53
• The American Revolution conditioned citizens to equate resistance to conspiracy with national identity #expands (0.85) — Russell Muirhead and Nancy L. Rosenblum, A Lot of People Are Saying, 59
• Belief in hostile conspiracy enables rewriting a founder’s historiography #corroborates (0.75) — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1377
• Conspiracy belief has long spanned the American political spectrum #expands (0.72) — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 26